Man arrested after threatening to blow up RV outside Arizona police station

By KTAR.com | January 6, 2016 at 4:04 pmUPDATED: January 6, 2016 at 6:36 pm

A Tucson Police sniper and a spotter watch a man in the parking lot of the Tucson Police Flowing Wells substation after the man in an RV threatened to explode some propane tanks in Tucson, Ariz., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. Arizona police said the man threatening to detonate his recreational vehicle outside the Tucson police substation showed officers a can of gasoline and a hammer and said he has propane tanks and guns. (Ron Medvescek/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

PHOENIX — A man who was involved in a standoff Wednesday after he allegedly threatened to blow up an RV outside an Arizona police station has been arrested.

After a 10-hour standoff with police, officers arrested the man without incident late Wednesday evening.The name of the man was not immediately released.

Tucson Police Sgt. Pete Dugan said the area around the substation near Miracle Mile and Interstate 10 was evacuated as a precaution after the man called in a threat to 911.

“He (said he) had weapons in his RV, that he had propane tanks in his RV and he was threatening to blow up the RV in the parking lot there in front of the station,” Dugan said.

The man is known to police, as he came to the same substation earlier in the week to file a complaint.

The Arizona Daily Star reported the man tried to enter the substation about 7:30 a.m. before using an emergency call box near the entrance.

Police said the man appeared to be incoherent. After using the box, the man went back inside the RV.

Negotiators began trying to talk the man down starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday, but officers were unsure if his threat of being armed was true.

“He has not shown any weapons to us,” Dugan said. “He hasn’t come out of his RV since the initial time we tried to contact him, but he has held up gas cans.”

The Arizona Department of Public Safety shut down roads around the area during the long standoff, and about 60 police personnel were at the scene, including the bomb squad, a mental health support team, the Tucson Fire Department and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office.

The Associated Press and KTAR’s Lauren Grifo contributed to this report.